Vin Cotto Ink

[tonydacrow]

The thread on scented inks mentioned a German ink made from wine. As I noted in that thread found here Sicilians have a kitchen staple known as vin cotto (cooked wine). To make it, you boil wine down until it's reduced between ten and twenty times in volume. It's used in various confections. Its dark red color is quite something and its staining power legendary. Well, if it stains, it's ink! In addition, it's water soluble. The only problem is that it is as acidic as vinegar. I thought I'd boil up a batch and see how it writes both in its as cooked state and buffered to neutral pH.

 

I made some last night boiled down to 1/10 its volume. The results are interesting and I will post pictures as soon as I'm finished with my experiments (assuming any interest). At 1/10 volume, the ink is a little too light IMHO. I'm going to try 1/15 and 1/20 next. As cooked, the ink has a very pleasing red/brown tone that looks like some of the inks found in Middle Age monasteries. Here's the kicker, when buffered to neutral with sodium bicarbonate, instead of tending to blue as expected, it went to a VERY pleasing green-brown. Even when damp, once they touch paper, they don't wash off. Vin cotto is completely water soluble but leaves an indelible mark on paper as soon as it touches the page. Not bad!

 

[edit fixed some syntax errors - again!]

Edited July 7, 2006 by tonydacrow

[Ashland]

Experiments are always great fun to follow. Please post your pictures.

 

Do you think your ink will be safe to use in a fountain pen? Did the baking soda dissolve completely?

 

Regards,

Ashland

[kissing]

A person willing to do daring things such as this, I respect

 

I am looking forward to the results, though in my position, i would only experiment that homemade ink with cheap pens to make sure its fountain-pen safe.

 

I would also wait for the replies of the nibmeisters and experts to see what their advice is on this

[tonydacrow]

Hi, guys.

 

To answer your question, Ashland, yes. The baking soda dissolved completely. As stated earlier, this stuff is as acidic as vinegar so when the soda is added, it bubbles-up and dissolves just like it would with vinegar. The end result of the buffering is various water soluble salts (citrates, tannanates, etc). After I get the pigment concentration down, I’m going to try buffering with additional bases such as lye and ammonia to see if these affect the color. (I expect the lye probably won't but that the ammonia or other non-sodium bases might.)

 

Kissing, I agree with you. I’m only using this stuff on a steel nibbed Phileas and quickly washing it out afterwards. In no event would I ever use the un-buffered vin cotto except with a dip pen. However, once I get the buffered stuff up to snuff, I’m going to conduct long term tests (1 day, 1 week, 1 month, 6 months) with mild steel, stainless steel, brass, aluminum, copper and zinc to see if it’s corrosive. I expect not if it’s buffered to neutral, but you never know. I’ll probably do the same test with the un-buffered stuff just to verify its effects.

[kissing]

Your approach is very scientific

 

Is your occupation/background science related?

[tonydacrow]

Nope. A government lawyer of all thing...

[sonia_simone]

Wow, very nifty. I look forward to updates and scans!

[tonydacrow]

OK.

 

Here are some preliminary results.

 

In the attached image, you see how the vin cotto works as an ink in concentrations of 1/30, 1/15 and 1/10 volume reductions. Each is un-buffered except the last. That was buffered with baking soda.

 

The 1/30 reduction is too thick to work well as an ink. The 1/15 and 1/10 are about the same and provide a passable ink. However, it's the buffered ink that really shines. Unfortunately, the scan doesn't do it justice.

 

The color of the buffered ink is a beautiful olive drab with gold undertones. Very middle ages. Also, the ink is VERY water resistant. After waiting about 15 seconds, I tried washing the ink from the paper. It can't be done. The paper shreds before the ink comes off.

 

I'll be doing some long term corrosion and stability tests and will provide you with the results as soon as I have them. All in all, I'm very pleased with this ink. One gallon of cheap red wine cost about $8 USD retail. That provided about 13 fluid oz (about 380 ml) of ink. Pretty cheap!

 

BTW, the writing was produced with a Waterman Phileas fine point steel nib.

[Margana]

Excellent work! The color is not at all what I expected from wine. It certainly does have a vintage look to it. Quite a pleasing color and one I would try should you decide to market it.

 

Does it retain the aroma of wine?

[Lloyd]

Can it be paired with fish?

 

Sorry, I couldn't resist.

[amh210]

Can it be paired with fish?

 

Sorry, I couldn't resist.

Only the white wine ink could be paired with fish.

 

Wouldn't be much of an "ink," though.

 

 

Andy

[BillTheEditor]

Going to add some antifungal stuff to that "ink"? I'd be afraid it would turn into a science fair project after a couple of days.

[DRP]

I may have been the one who brought this up -- then I must confess, forgot about it. My original question was whether a German ink producer's product was available in the US (regrettably it isn't).

 

To my delight, I rediscovered this topic and have now learned that it is possible to create an ink in one's own kitchen!

 

I am completely fascinated with the results which are being delivered.

 

I will be watching carefully as time goes on to see what kind of results others are getting. I fear that my own talents in this area are limited but I read with total fascination the progress of others.

 

Then again. It would be fun to create a wine based ink, wouldn't it?

 

Maybe ...................................................

[amh210]

Just imagine the sensation you could make at a Pen Show if you could drink your ink and fill your pen with wine!

 

New use for a Snork as you gave everyone around you a "taste."

 

You might even get the nibmeisters to glance up from their 'scopes!

 

 

Andy

[DRP]

Andy's comment about drinking a bottle of ink and filling a pen with wine is one of the funniest things I've seen lately. Thanks for such a great visual image.

[amh210]

Andy's comment about drinking a bottle of ink and filling a pen with wine is one of the funniest things I've seen lately.  Thanks for such a great visual image.

I'm happy to be a modest source of amusement. SWMBO thinks I'm just being silly. Actually, I'm just getting all my submissions in order for the soon-to-be-announced FPN Post Contest with prizes to be awarded for best:

Humor

Sarcasm

Irony

Worst Pun in English

Worst Pun not in English

Irritating Pet Story

Typo

Empathy

Single Photo

Photo Series

Posted Drawing

Handwriting Sample

Gross Out

Ruffled Feather Smoother

Pathos

FP Disaster Story

Newbie Boo Boo

Silly Thread

Ink Mix

Homemade Ink

Making a Silk Purse from a Sows Ear

Single Sumgai

Overall Continuous Sumgai

OT Bloodiest Shaving photo-spread

I was violated when someone took my FP story

Once I was Lost but now I'm Found FP story

 

Notice that there will be no prizes for invective, politics, and tedium.

 

Now that I've thunk it up we can just sit back and wait for the Admin Team to pick up this wonderous idea, line up 26 fabulous prizes, figure out the rules, and off we go!

 

Andy

:)9

[tonydacrow]

Hi, guys.

 

Margana, you asked if the ink retains the aroma of the wine. Indeed, it does. There is no alcohol smell because that has all been driven out. However, the smell of grapes, oak, and yeast are definitely there. In addition, there is an unmistakable “cooked” smell, if you understand my meaning.

 

Bill, I’m not as concerned with fungus and bacteria as you are. The unbuffered is so acidic, nothing will live in it. The buffered ink is so saline from the buffering soda that I don’t think anything could live in there, either. In addition, all the sugars and other simple food stuffs are gone while the ink retains a significant portion of the phenols, tannins, etc that are present in the wine. However, that’s one of the tests I’m doing now.

 

Lloyd and amh, haven’t you heard? The new zeitgeist is that red wine is no longer considered anathema to fish. Please feel free to pen fish-tales with this kind of ink!

[Lloyd]

I wonder if you reduce a sparkling wine if it'll yield a "Penman"-like shimmer.

[tonydacrow]

Well, here's an update.

 

I'm only working with the buffered ink due to the low pH of the unbuffered stuff. No corrosion problems so far and the ink appears to be stable with no change in color or precipitation even after storage in triple digit heat. There is one small problem. Contrary to my belief, the ink does support fungal growth. Looks like a little Ink Safe will be necessary. All in all, I'm pretty happy with the way this thing is going. However, I’m going to continue the corrosion tests just to make sure. So far zinc, brass, aluminum and stainless steel are doing quite well in the ink.

 

I think I might branch out and try some other forms of natural ink. We have lots of olive trees around here. Perhaps ripe olive juice might make a good ink. I remember reading something somewhere about the Spanish missionaries using olive juice for ink.

 

Hmmmmm...

[wdyasq]

I've wondered about Balsamic Vinegar and reducing the stuff. Silver or copper salts will kill most bacterial vermin.

 

Ron